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The point of departure for this discussion is Boccaccio's iconic protagonistAndreuccio of Decameroll 11.5, poised at a Neapolitan wellin order to bathe after a fall into a latrine. The second of the three"adventures" or "accidents" in the novella's narrative arc, the episode atthe well is often overshadowed by the more repulsive and frightening fallfrom Madama Fiordaliso's toilet and raid on the archbishop's putridtomb. I Still, the adventure at the well is not without an element of disgust,albeit subtle, that has perhaps seemed to some critics as secondary to thearc of the narrative. Andreuccio's bath accomplishes the purification of hisbody and perhaps the sharpening of his wit, as Ceretta has suggested, butat the expense of Neapolitan drinking water. The modern science of bacteriologymay inform our contemporary concept of contamination; yet I willargue that the understanding of water contamination in medieval Italy wassuch that we may question Andreuccio's act in terms of public health andsanitation without anachronism. The case of Andreuccio offers a glimpseof the collision of two distinct water cultures of Naples and northern Italythat were both familiar to Boccaccio. Andreuccio's Perugian provenanceshould have infused him with a culture of water protectionism that facilitatedthe civic life of industrious Apennine towns, and his bath in the wellmarks a distinct departure from the values of that culture.